


start a fire, lose a friend

by ninemelodies



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: M/M, Trans Galo Thymos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21874978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninemelodies/pseuds/ninemelodies
Summary: Lio gets to see Galo’s scars for the first time almost two months after the world ends. A 5+1 story about scars, and the stories behind them.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 13
Kudos: 196





	start a fire, lose a friend

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to bean and beau for putting up with my rambling about this. i love u guys. 
> 
> title from the [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3BCMPZjTFQ) i had on repeat while working on this

1\. Lio gets to see Galo’s scars for the first time almost two months after the world ends. Galo never talked about them much, but he always wore a sleeve over them and shied away when people tried to touch them. For someone who craved touch and attention like Galo did, he was surprisingly self-conscious about the skin underneath that sleeve he always wore.

When Lio tried to ask Aina about it, she had just looked at him. Her eyes were unreadable, but her mouth was pressed into a thin line. “Yeah, I know what happened,” she had told him. “But it’s not my place to say. You should ask Galo about it.” Lio hated that she was right.

But as it turns out, Lio ended up not needing to. A week and a half ago, Galo had taken a nasty fall when part of the building he was working in collapsed. Much to the surprise of everyone, he had managed to walk away with only a bruised head and a broken arm. When Lio came home that night, Galo was sitting on the couch, a jar of lotion unopened on the table in front of him. It wasn’t hard for Lio to put two and two together.

“Galo,” the man jerked at his name, like he hadn’t realized Lio was standing there. “Do you need help?”

Galo sighed “Yeah, I do. I need to put this lotion on my scars, but with my other arm broken I can’t reach them. I haven’t been able to do it for a while and they’re starting to hurt.” Galo picks up the lotion and looks at Lio. “Please help?”

As if Lio would ever say no. He helps Galo get his sleeve unhooked and taken off, and Lio’s breath catches at the sight of Galo’s arm. The entirety of it is covered in one giant burn scar. He takes the lotion from Galo and gets to work applying it.

Galo is the one who breaks the silence. “You want to know what happened don’t you? Aina told me you were asking about it earlier today.”

Lio’s hands freeze before he continues what he was doing. “Is this why you didn’t ask Aina to help you?”

“No. Well, yes and no. I trust you as much as I trust Aina, but she’s busy and I can’t ask her to come over just to help me apply lotion when you’re here.” Galo shrugs. “But I also figured it would give you the chance to ask about it without you feeling like you were prying.”

Lio scoops up more lotion and gets to work on the lower portion of Galo’s arm. “So, what happened?”

“That girl that died in the cave, her name was Thyma right?” Lio nods and Galo continues. “I was there the day she awoke as a burnish. I had saved her from the top floor of this building and she passed out from smoke inhalation on the way down. She came to after I set her down and I guess the residual adrenaline was enough for her to resonate with the Promare.”

“She burned you?”

Galo nods. “Yeah, but it wasn’t her fault. Aina put me out pretty fast and Gueira and Meis grabbed Thyma before anyone else could get to her.”

Lio screws the cap back onto the lotion and sets it on the table. “Why do you wear this sleeve?”

“Press got wind of how I got those scars, and some of them were trying to use them to advance their anti-burnish ideas. It never sat right with me, the way all burnish were treated, so I covered them up.” Galo hums. “I’ve been thinking about wearing it less though, now that things have died down.” He shrugs. “What do you think, Lio?”

“I think you should do whatever makes you comfortable. But,” Lio taps Galo’s broken arm. “I also think you should go get a pillow and elevate this while I make dinner.”

Galo grins and salutes with his free hand. “Yes sir!”

Lio’s heart swells with an emotion he can’t place.

2\. With Lio living with him now, Galo figures it’s impossible for Lio not to notice the needle disposal box in the bathroom, the (extremely dusty and mostly full) box of pads underneath the bathroom sink, or the bottle of liquid medicine in the cabinet that declares itself to be testosterone, prescribed to one Galo Thymos.

Galo doesn’t talk about it much, doesn’t see why it’s anybody’s business but his, but if Lio asked, he would tell. And Lio does ask, but not about any of the things Galo figured he would. No, one night, when they’re watching a movie, with Lio sprawled out on his chest like a cat, Lio asks about the scars on his chest.

They’re barely visible now, and Galo honestly hasn’t thought about them in years. As far as he cares, he’s Galo Thymos and he’s always been Galo Thymos. But he trusts Lio, so he answers honestly. “I’m trans, they’re from top surgery.”

Lio says, “Oh,” before laying his head back on Galo’s chest. “I’m glad you’re happy, Galo.”

Galo lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He hasn’t had to come out to anyone in years, and even though he’s comfortable with who he is, it’s still scary. “Yeah,” Galo says, reaching a hand up to stroke Lio’s hair. “Me too.”

3\. Galo turns the tables on him one night when they both can’t sleep. They’ve been laying side by side, staring at the ceiling, knowing the other was awake but not really doing anything about it. Until Galo speaks up. “Hey, Lio, how come you don’t have any scars?”

“Promare.”

Galo makes a noise of understanding. “Where would you have scars?”

Lio rolls on his side to face Galo. Galo is still staring at the ceiling, arms crossed over his chest and fingers entwined. “I guess…” Lio pulls one of Galo’s hands down, and lays it on his side, just below his ribs. “I would have a big one here, from where Vulcan shot me with an ice bullet. And…”

He moves Galo’s hand again, this time pressing Galo’s fingers to his forehead. “A bullet grazed me here once, when we were running. And here,” he positions Galo’s hand on his shoulder. “Rubble fell on me and dislocated my shoulder. It tore up my shirt pretty bad, so I can only imagine what it must’ve looked like before the Promare healed it.”

“How many times have you almost died?” Galo’s fingers tighten around Lio’s shoulder. “No, don’t answer that, I’m not sure I want to know. From now on, I’ll protect you.” Galo’s whispering, but Lio can hear the conviction behind his words. “I promise, I will keep you safe, so that nothing like that happens again.”

Lio laughs, but inside he feels warm. “I’ll protect you too, Galo, I promise.”

4\. “Galo?” Lio got back a grunt in response, indicating that Galo was listening. They were sitting on the couch, and Galo was flipping through TV channels, trying to find something to watch that wasn’t news about Kray’s trial. Lio was holding Galo’s hand, thumb running over the discolored skin that made up Galo’s palm and fingertips. “Where’d you get these scars?”

Galo flexed his hand, stopping Lio’s exploration. He set the remote down before turning to face Lio. “You remember when you went full dragon form on the city? And I stopped you?” Lio nodded. “Well I lied when I said your flames weren’t hot. The gloves on my matoi and the ones I was wearing underneath melted and I got burned.”

Lio’s heart dropped. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He tried to pull his hand back. Lio knew personally what it felt like to be near the person who had caused you so much pain, let alone what it meant to be _touching them_. “I hurt you, when all you ever tried to do was help me.”

“This is why I didn’t tell you.” Now it was Galo’s turn to stroke a thumb over Lio’s hand. “I knew you would put the blame on yourself -” Lio tried to interject because it was his fault, but Galo kept talking. “But I never blamed you, Lio. You were desperate and lost, pushed beyond the limits of what any human should face. I never will blame you.”

What had Lio done to deserve this man? A lesser person would have never forgiven Lio for everything he had done. Lio had terrorized Promepolis for years, and even if Mad Burnish didn’t kill people that didn’t mean that people hadn’t died. Burning Rescue had accepted Lio and the rest of the ex-burnish without question, but Lio had always wondered if they secretly hated him. He knew there were people out there who would love nothing more than for Lio to be on trial like Kray Foresight. “Why don’t you hate me?”

Galo smiled and pulled Lio’s hand up to his lips. “I’ve never hated you Lio, and now that I know you, I can’t.” He pressed a soft kiss to the back of Lio’s knuckles. “I love you.”

There was a ringing in Lio’s ears. His mouth was open, and his breath was coming in sporadic bursts. Lio yanked his hand back and stood up quickly. The world around him was swimming, he had to get out. Through the noise he could hear Galo trying to talk to him, but it was like Lio had shoved cotton in his ears.

Lio spied the front door and ran. He didn’t look back, couldn’t stand to see the hurt on Galo’s face.

5\. Galo had always figured Lio didn’t like to talk about emotions. He had never personally been on the run, never been arrested (well, not arrested for anything illegal anyways), never had to spend 6 years of his life leading a group of people who were just looking to survive the night, but Galo had an idea of what kind of effect it had on a person.

When Lio had first joined Burning Rescue, the week after they had burned the world out, Lio hadn’t trusted anyone. He stuck close to Galo, and didn’t really talk to the other members unless he had to. It was Lucia, surprisingly, who had managed to crack Lio’s defenses. She had marched out of the shop one day, grabbed Lio by the hand and dragged him back with her.

When Galo had gone to investigate, he found Lio strapped into a mech of his own, one that resembled his Burnish armor. He was giving Lucia directions on what needed to be fixed and changed, places where the armor stuck and needed more oil, things that could be added, but most of all, Lio was smiling. Galo’s heart skipped a beat when Lio directed that smile at him.

After that, Lio had been like a different person. He smiled more, talked more, but Galo could always tell that Lio didn’t trust any of the other Burning Rescue members 100%. However, Galo had thought he was different. They had gotten closer than two humans could ever be when they synced up with Lio’s Promare to save the world, and Galo thought that counted for something. Galo had saved Lio’s life!

But Galo had forgotten not all scars are visible. Lio had feared betrayal for as long as he had been a Burnish. It had happened to him before, and even now with the Promare gone, Lio was still afraid someone was going to turn on him. Lio had probably never stopped to consider that someone could and would love him. Galo sighed and picked himself off the couch. He slipped on his jacket and shoes before grabbing Lio’s.

He had to go find Lio, and he was pretty sure he knew where Lio had gone.

Gueira and Meis were two people Galo knew Lio trusted without a doubt. They were his generals and had stood by his side longer than anyone. If Lio had gone anywhere, it was to their apartment.

Meis opened the door on Galo’s first knock, like he had been waiting. “He’s here, but,” Meis put an arm up to block Galo from coming through. “Give him a couple of days, okay?” Galo had nodded, handed over Lio’s jacket and shoes, and left. Meis shut the door. “Lio, he’s gone.”

The mound of blankets on the couch let out a muffled noise of thanks.

Across the room, Gueira huffed. “Are you going to tell us what happened?” The blankets were silent. “You can’t hide forever! Did you guys have a fight? Galo would forgive you for anything you know, so why did you run?”

Lio emerged from the blankets violently. “That’s the problem!” He slapped his hands down into the remaining blankets. “I hurt him!”

Gueira and Meis looked at each other in shock. “When?”

“After you guys shot me into Fennel Volcano, I escaped.” Lio sighs. “I was so angry, so desperate. You guys were hurting, were going to be killed and the Promare just…responded. My memory of the event is hazy at best, the most I can remember is emotions. Anger and heat and irritation.” He looks up, locking eyes with Meis. “The Promare made me a giant dragon, and I went on a rampage in the city, threatened to burn it down and kill everyone if Kray didn’t release everyone. Galo stopped me, but I hurt him in the process. The palms of his hands and fingertips are nothing but a giant burn scar and it’s _my fault_.”

Lio chokes out a shuddering breath and wraps his arms around his knees. “The worst thing is he doesn’t blame me for it. Doesn’t hate me like he should. I turned his life upside down and hurt him the process and...”

“And?”

If possible, Lio curls into a smaller ball. He’s not talking to Gueira and Meis anymore, not really. “He said he loved me.”

Ah, Gueira and Meis share a look. That explains a lot. Meis talks first, “Boss…” but it’s Gueira who finishes the question.

“Do you love him?”

Lio doesn’t answer. In the end, it takes him three days to come up with a solid answer. Three days of sulking around Gueira and Meis’s apartment. Three days of realizing just how much of his life involved Galo now. He liked being around Galo, liked listening to him talk, liked cooking with him and sleeping near him. He would catch himself turning to tell Galo a dumb joke or comment on the movie he was watching on to realize that Galo wasn’t there. The one time he went grocery shopping with Gueira and Meis, all he could think about was all the food he had tried because of Galo.

Lio was beyond in love with Galo, and it was time for him to go home. Gueira and Meis walked him to the doorstep of Galo’s apartment and stayed there until the door closed behind Lio.

6\. “Lio?”

Lio hums in response.

Galo turns to face him. He reaches a hand out to hold Lio’s face. “You’ll stay here with me, right?”

Lio grabs the hand holding his face and mimics what Galo had done to him earlier. He brings Galo’s fingertips to his lips and gives them a soft kiss. “Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> i hope i did this justice i've just been thinking about scars and the intimacy that can come with learning about them. then this fic was born. 
> 
> as always you can catch me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/GODF0RSAKEN)/[tumblr](https://ninemelodies.tumblr.com/)


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